Elmo Hope Trio

Elmo Hope Trio

Elmo Hope’s piano playing, like his compositions, was laden with the unexpected and with beauty. Often assumed by those with ears adjusted for superficialities to be made up of equal parts of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Hope was in fact unique. His originality as a pianist was inseparable from the density of harmony and intricacy of line in his tunes, which were sequences of surprises. “Something for Kenny” is a prime example of Hope the improviser extending the idea written by Hope the composer. Never given the recognition his talent warranted, Hope left a recorded legacy whose importance grows year by year. This album is a major part of that legacy. It was made in 1959 with drummer Frank Butler and bassist Jimmy Bond, who worked often with Hope during his West Coast period of the late Fifties and early Sixties.